


The Case of the Bollywood Beauty

by neverbeen2spain



Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-22
Updated: 2005-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:56:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1625450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverbeen2spain/pseuds/neverbeen2spain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for evremonde</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Case of the Bollywood Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> Written for evremonde

 

 

"Nancy, did you see that article in today's paper about the Bollywood movie being filmed right here in River Heights?" Bess asked her titian-haired friend.

George rolled her eyes, "I was wondering when we'd get to that subject. This morning when I picked her up, she wouldn't stop talking about it."

Bess Marvin and George Fayne were cousins, but they couldn't have been more different if they tried. George was tall and athletic with short dark hair, and Bess was shorter and plumper with long blond curls. Together with Nancy Drew, they made an inseparable threesome, even when not solving crime, one of their favorite pastimes.

Today the three friends were out to lunch at their favorite bistro after spending the morning shopping in downtown River Heights.

"Tell me about the article, Bess," Nancy smiled, ignoring George's sarcasm.

"Gladly," Bess tossed her head at her cousin. "It seems that there is a Hindi film company in town to make a new Indian blockbuster. It stars Lalita Narayan and Prakash Khan, which means that they're here, in our little town! I think it's gonna be called _Sapna aur Pyar_ or maybe _Dil_ ... something. I don't know if they've picked a name yet."

Nancy looked surprised. "I had no idea you knew so much about Bollywood."

"Or even cared," snorted George.

This time George's mockery was greeted with a playful swat from her cousin. "Of course I care! I love Indian movies. They're incredible, the women are so beautiful and the men are so manly. They all know how to dress, even the guys! And everything's so romantic," she sighed rapturously. "Plus, there are amazing songs and they dance so well. It would be a dream come true to be able to visit the set and meet Lal and yeah, even Prakash."

" _Even_ Prakash? You mean you don't have dreams of him meeting you, falling madly in love and taking you back to India with him?" Nancy couldn't help a bit of skepticism.

"Well, he has a bit of a reputation for being a bad guy. He's had drunk driving arrests, and he's gone to jail for poaching. But the worst is how he used to treat his ex-girlfriend, Anjali. He sent her threatening notes and would harass her on movie sets. She actually lost the lead role in a film because he was being such a nuisance. It was really sad."

"He sounds like a creep," Nancy said. Even George nodded her head in agreement.

\------

That night Nancy's father, Carson Drew, had some good news for her when he came home. He came to her room before dinner, as she was putting away a load of laundry that had just been brought up by Hannah Gruen, the Drew's housekeeper. Nancy's mother had died shortly after she had been born, and Hannah had been with them ever since. Now, almost eighteen years later, she had become a part of the family.

Answering the soft knock at her door, Nancy turned and saw her father, one of River Heights' most distinguished lawyers, come into the room.

"Hey honey, something happened at work today that you might be interested in," he said sitting down on her bed.

"What's up?" Nancy sat down next to him.

"Well, my law firm did some consulting work for the Bollywood production company that's in town."

"Bess is so excited about that." Nancy laughed.

"Well then, I'd imagine she'll be very excited about my news. As a thank you to the firm, they have offered to let visitors on set. I asked them if it was ok if my daughter and a few of her friends went in my place, and they said it was fine," Mr. Drew smiled at the look of joy that crossed Nancy's face. "I had to give them the names of the visitors, so I told them that they could expect you, Bess, George, and Ned."

Tall and well built, Ned Nickerson was Nancy's long time boyfriend. He would be very excited to get to spend some time with his girlfriend on such an exciting outing.

"Oh, Dad! Thank you," Nancy gave her father a bear hug.

\------

"Are you sure Bess knows where to meet us?" Ned asked, looking at his watch. "We've been waiting here for almost a half an hour."

"I told her by the fountain in the Lake View Park," Nancy said, trying to hide her impatience. "We've met here before, she should be along at any moment."

The jangling of Bess' jewelry reached them far before she did.

George perked her head up. "What's that noise?"

As the plump girl made her way up to the group by the fountain, George gave Nancy a look of disbelief. She was dressed in a bright turquoise sari with her blonde hair cascading in curls around her face. She had an enormous jeweled hairclip on and her matching earrings not only hung down so far that they brushed her shoulders, but they also almost covered the entirety of her ears. Around her wrists, Bess wore bangles to match her sari. There were at least twenty per wrist and they made quite a racket when she moved. Most of the noise, however, came from her anklets. They had little bells on them that jingled as she walked. Perhaps the oddest of all, she carried a folder that matched the entire ensemble.

"Wow," whispered George.

"Do you like it?" Bess did a spin to show off the whole effect.

"It's ... amazing, Bess," Nancy was at a loss for words.

"It's pieced together from a few outfits Lal wore in some of her movies. The sari itself is from her dance opposite Saif from that movie about the three friends. The jewelry is from her cameo in the Bachchan remake of _Bonnie and Clyde_ , and the folder is, of course, from _Major Ram_."

"Of course," Ned muttered.

"Alright, let's go, we're running late already," Nancy lead the way over to her Mustang convertible and they all piled in.

As they drove to the location of that day's shoot in the hills outside of River Heights, Bess chattered idly about Bollywood gossip. Ned was particularly interested in her varied stories about the bad character of Prakash Khan.

"He hit a group of homeless people with his SUV and fled the scene because he was driving without a license?"

"Yes."

"Gee, he sounds really terrible," Ned shuddered. "Let's avoid talking to him when we're there."

"That sounds like a very good plan," agreed Nancy.

\------

When they got to the outdoor set, the cast and crew were in between takes. They gave their names to the guard and he ushered them over to a short Indian man who seemed to be in charge. He was introduced as Dilip Kapoor, the director.

"Today," he told them, "we are filming a love song set to the backdrop of the lovely hills and fall colors here in River Heights. You all can sit over there and watch the process," he motioned to four chairs off to the side.

Music was piped through speakers for the actors to lip-synch and dance to. Lalita wore a traditional-looking pink dress and had her long black hair in a braid that seemed to almost reach her knees. Prakash was in a purple shirt and grey scarf that nicely complemented his costar's dress. The four friends had a lot of fun watching the two actors dance together and look soulfully into one another's eyes.

After the shoot they got to meet both Lalita and Prakash. Bess got both actors to sign her folder and she even got a laugh from Lalita about her outfit. While not the friendliest man the group had met, Prakash didn't do anything outwardly bad, and indeed seemed to be on his best behavior.

It was a day well spent for all of them. Both Bess and Ned, in particular, were mesmerized by the whole thing.

Later Nancy had cause to wonder just how mesmerized Ned was by Lalita. He seemed to spend every waking moment either at college or with the beautiful Indian woman on the movie set. It was starting to give Nancy a worried feeling. She decided that the most sensible way to deal with these feelings would be to call Ned and talk it out.

"I'm worried, Ned," Nancy said telling him of her jealous fears.

"Oh Nancy, why would you ever think that? I'm sorry that you ever felt that way. I can't tell you what's going on yet, but I promise that as soon as this movie wraps you will be seeing more of me."

"Why can't you tell me now?" Nancy asked.

Ned sighed, "You know how when you're working on a case, you sometimes have to keep secrets? Even from me. This is like that."

"Are you on a case?"

"Not exactly."

This conversation hardly put Nancy's fears to rest, so the next call that she made was to George. She told her friend that Ned might be cheating on her and relayed their phone call.

George suggested that they go for a run. "Every problem that I have seems simpler and easier to tackle after a run."

George was right. Some combination of the rhythm of her feet hitting the ground, the chill of the autumn air in her lungs, and her friend next to her cleared her head.

After their run, the two stretched in a field on the campus of Emerson College.

"I just feel like we've been together for so long, I don't really know how to be me without him in my life," Nancy said, sitting on the ground.

"The thing is, Nancy, you are a beautiful, intelligent, complete person, who shouldn't need Ned, or anyone else to make her feel whole. You are whole." George reached over and brushed a leaf out of Nancy's auburn hair.

"Oh thank you, George," Nancy sighed. "That's exactly what I needed to hear."

The two friends hugged, and Nancy began to feel a bit better.

\------

Ned was true to his word. The day that the movie wrapped, he was at the Drews' door with roses for Nancy.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been around," he said when she answered the door.

Letting him inside and taking the flowers, Nancy looked questioningly at her boyfriend. "What's going on, Ned?"

"After we got back from watching the filming, I contacted Lalita to see if she might be in need of a bodyguard."

"A bodyguard?" Nancy was confused.

"Yeah. I was worried about her living in a strange place with Prakash Khan for company."

"Oh."

"She admitted that he frightens her, and had even made a few thinly veiled threats," Ned continued.

"Wow. What a jerk."

"You said it," Ned agreed. "So I volunteered my services, and she accepted my offer. After all, I am the captain of Emerson College's football team." He winked.

Nancy ignored his flirting. "How did it go?"

"Pretty well, I got to go undercover as a lighting assistant, but I couldn't tell anyone what was going on because it could blow my cover."

Nancy breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's exciting, but I think you could have told me! I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, after all."

"I'm sorry," Ned responded, looking very sorry indeed.

"Apology accepted, now let's go find a vase for these flowers."

 


End file.
